Cases - Halifax plc v Customs & Excise Commissioners
Record details
- Name
- Halifax plc v Customs & Excise Commissioners
- Date
- [2005]
- Citation
- Case C-255/02
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Value added tax - VAT avoidance scheme - construction of call centre - abusive practice
- Summary
-
This case concerns a VAT avoidance scheme entered into by Halifax, a predominantly VAT-exempt business, to recover VAT on the construction of call centres. The scheme involved the insertion of a number of parties and transactions between the builder and the bank.
The ECJ stated that transactions cannot be disregarded for VAT purposes even if their sole purpose was the obtaining of a tax advantage. It also help that where abusive tax practices were found to exist the transactions concerned must be redefined so as to establish the situation that would have existed in the absence of the transactions constituting the abusive practice. In order for this recharacterisation to be applicable it must be established that the essential aim of the transactions was to obtain a tax advantage.